Absentee Ballot Process

If you wish to have your absentee ballot sent to you by mail or delivered to you by a traveling board, you must be at least one of the following:

Having a specific, reasonable expectation that you will be absent from your county of residence on Election Day during the entire 12 hours that the polls are open (6:00 am to 6:00 pm)

An election official

Confined on Election Day due to illness or injury during the entire 12 hours that the polls are open

A voter with disabilities

65 years of age or older

Caretaker of an individual(s) confined to a private residence due to illness or injury and prevented from voting during the entire 12 hours that the polls are open

Scheduled to work for the entire 12 hours that the poll is open

Prevented from voting due to observing a religious discipline or holiday during the entire 12 hours that the polls are open

Participating in the address confidentiality program

Are a member of the military or public safety officer

Are a "serious sex offender"

Are prevented from voting due to not having transportation to the polls

If you are eligible to vote absentee, you must fill out the absentee voting application. You must submit your application for an absentee ballot at least 12 days before the election. If you are a confined voter or a voter caring for a confined individual, there are other deadlines and requirements that apply.

If you vote absentee by mail you are not required to show a photo ID.

Campaign Finance Information

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For information on federal campaign contributions, please visit Open Secrets.

Election Dates

For more information about your local elections please contact your local Board of Elections.

Eligibility Requirements

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To be eligible to vote in Indiana, you must be:

A citizen of the United States and a resident of Indiana

Be at least 18 years old on or before Election Day

Reside in your precinct at least 30 days before the election in which you will be voting.

Not currently in prison after committing crime

Apply to register to vote at least 29 days before the election in which you will be voting. Your registration application must be approved in order to vote

ID Needed for Voter Registration

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If you register online you are required to provide a valid Indiana driver's license number or state issued ID number.

If you register to vote by mail or in person, you are not required to show identification when registering to vote. However, if you are a first time voter who registered by mail, you may be required to provide additional documentation that matches the address on your voter registration record. Those meet the following qualifications will need to provide additional documentation:

You registered to vote in the county between January 1, 2003 and January 1, 2006

or

You registered to vote in the state after January 1, 2006

However, this does not apply if you submitted an application at a license branch or other voter registration agency. If you are a military or overseas voter, or presented this documentation to the county voter registration office with your registration application, you are also exempt from the additional documentation requirement. You should be notified of this requirement when the county receives your registration application or absentee ballot application.

You may present any of the following types of documents to meet the requirement:

Indiana driver's license

Indiana state identification card, with your current name and address

NOTE: An Indiana driver's license or Indiana state identification card may meet both the photo ID requirement and the valid and current address requirement.

To fulfill the photo ID requirement the document does not need to contain an address that matches the address on the poll list, but must meet the other requirements. However, to meet the additional document requirement, you only need to present a document that contains a matching name and current address to the poll list.

Other documents that meet the additional documentation requirement:

Any other current and valid photo ID that contains your current name and address

A current utility bill with your current name and address

A bank statement with your current name and address

A government check with your current name and address

A paycheck with your current name and address

Other government documents that show your current name and address

ID Needed for Voting?

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Photo ID is required of all voters casting a ballot in person. There are exceptions for certain confined voters and voters casting absentee ballots by mail. Acceptable forms of ID include: driver's license, passport, military ID or picture ID from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The criteria for acceptable ID include:

Photograph

A name which matches the voter registration record

An expiration date after Election Day

Must have been issued by the U.S. government or the state of Indiana

A student ID from an Indiana State school may only be used if it meets all of the four criteria specified above. A student ID from a private institution may not be used for voting purposes. For more information for college students, click here.

If you do not have an acceptable form of ID you can get one for free from your local BMV location!

Overseas and Military Voters

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You are a Military or Overseas voter if you are in uniformed services, living overseas OR a spouse or dependent of a uniformed services voter. To get registered and vote, you can utilize Overseas Vote Foundation.

If you have additional questions about elections and voting overseas you can use our state specific elections official directory or contact the Overseas Vote Foundation.

Poll Worker Information

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In order to be a poll worker in Indiana:

You must be registered to vote in Indiana

You must be at least 18 years of age (or 16/17 if participating in Election Day Live)

You will be entitled to compensation

You must be a resident of the precinct for the 30 days prior to the election

Polling Place Hours

Polling Place Locator

If you have further questions on your polling place location, please contact your county clerk.

Provisional Voting

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Provisional ballots are counted 10 days after the election.

If you believe you are registered to vote in a precinct, but your name does not appear on the poll list, or if you have been challenged as not qualified to vote in your precinct, you will cast a provisional ballot.

A provisional ballot permits you to vote on Election Day. However, your provisional ballot will be kept separate from the other ballots cast in that precinct. After Election Day, the county election board will decide if you were qualified to vote in that precinct, and if your ballot should be counted. You will be able to contact your county election board to find out if your ballot was counted, and if not, why not.

Provisions for Voters with Disabilities

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The polling place for each precinct must meet accessibility standards under federal law.

The polling place must have facilities accessible to elderly voters and voters with disabilities so that these voters have the same opportunity for access, participation, privacy, and independence available to all voters. This includes:

Parking spaces marked and available for voters with disabilities with blue signage

An accessible path to the facility that an individual travels to reach the polls

Accessible entrances to the facility

The paths of travel within the facility to the space where the voting systems are located

The space in the facility where the voting systems are located

If you believe that the polling place for your precinct does not comply with accessibility requirements, contact your county election board as soon as possible to inform them about this problem. It may be possible for the board to make temporary or permanent changes to the polling place to make it more accessible for all voters.

Verify Voter Registration

For additional information, please contact your elections office or board of elections for your county, city or state.

Voting Machines

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The voting machine systems used in Indiana are optical scan and DRE.

Optical Scan: With this system, you will receive a card or sheet of paper, which you take over to a private table or booth. The card has the names of the various candidates and ballot measures printed on it. With a pen or pencil you fill in a little box or circle or the space between two arrows. When you are finished filling out all the cards, you may bring the cards over to a ballot box, where poll workers will show you how to put the cards in the box. Or in some places, you may feed the completed cards or papers into a computer device that checks your card or paper right there at the polling place to make sure you have voted the way you want to and counts the votes.

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE): This is the newest kind of system in use in the U.S. All the information about who and what you are voting for is on an electronic screen like a TV or computer screen.

There are many variations of DREs because lots of companies are inventing new ones, and many cities, counties and states are trying them out. Usually, after you have signed in, the poll workers will give you a card that you slide into a device to start your voting session.

Some of these devices will show all of the candidates and ballot choices on one big screen. Often, with these big screen devices you push a button next to the name of the candidate you want to vote for (or yes or no on a ballot measure). On other DREs, the screen is set up to show pages. On each screen or page, there will probably be one thing to vote on. For example, on one screen or page, you might vote for president. Then you might move to the next page to vote for senator. Often these small-screen devices have a touch screen, where you touch the screen next to the name of the person you want to vote for. Other devices have a key pad. Some have a keyboard, so you can write in the name of someone you want to vote for.

You let the system know you are finished voting by pushing a button, touching the screen or entering something on a keypad.

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